A Winter Wellness workout Friday Mixtape!
Ethan Maffey
Both a writer and a fan of vinyl records since age 5, it wasn't until nearly three decades later that Oregon Native Ethan Maffey derived a plan to marry the two passions by writing about music. From blogging on MySpace in 2007 and then Blogspot, to launching his own website, 83Music, and eventually freelancing for publications in the Pacific Northwest, like Spokane’s alt-weekly Inlander, Ethan’s aim has been to provide fans of music alternatives to the mundane and overplayed. This included a nearly two year stint as the music editor for the Source, where he scoured the Bend music scene drawing attention to local talent and notable touring acts as they passed through town. In addition to deep knowledge of the local music scene, Ethan has an uncanny ability to quote lines from the television show “Friends.” He also has an eye for women’s fashion and feels a kinship with Lucky Day, Steve Martin’s character in ¡Three Amigos!
Posted inMusic
Veteran Verses
Central Oregon soldiers fight PTSD with music
Rod Napier is a Vietnam vet. He stands at the front of a small group, his white beard shaking with the rhythm as he strums a 12-bar blues song on his guitar with novice, but full hearted, accuracy. “Oh, Vietnam, what did you do to me?,” he sings. “You took my youth away from me.” […]
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Rock Endurance
Iconic '70s band Little Feat is still groovin’
With only one founding member remaining, L.A. boogie band Little Feat has somehow survived—and actually thrived—for nearly 45 years. Today, the band's music sounds almost nothing like the classic rock initiated by legendary songwriter and guitarist Lowell George when he and his buddy Bill Payne—who is still with the band—formed Little Feat in 1969, after […]
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Chilling Tunes
Halloween gets spookier with the right music
These records—from appropriately named bands—offer the ghoulish ambiance of cobwebs and boiling cauldrons, just the right mood to complement All Hallows' Eve, the darkest of all holidays. Hellbound Fit For An Autopsy Entertainment One Music Decadently evil death metal seems to go with Halloween like peanut butter with chocolate, and New Jersey band Fit For […]
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Back in the Game
Blues music isn’t just for old timers any more
Bend blues band Blackflowers Blacksun doesn't necessarily need the help of modern-day, big-name blues artists conjuring up meaningful relevancy for the genre to pack its shows and win over new fans. But the fact that blues music is reaching new heights in this era of indie music dominance certainly doesn’t hurt things either. That's something […]
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Shulamith
Shulamith Poliça | Mom & Pop Music The first album from Minneapolis synth post-pop group Poliça—2012’s Give You the Ghost—inspired Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to exclaim to Rolling Stone: “They’re the best band I’ve ever heard.” On their second album Shulamith—just released this week—Vernon lends his sultry tenor vocals to the lead single “Tiff.” Clearly, […]
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String Theory
Canuck Kytami is a 21st century kind of violinist
Canadian Kyla LeBlanc—who goes by the stage name Kytami—is one of those rare innovative spirits who doubles down on experimentation. Rather than merely adding her instrument—a violin—to a particular genre, Kytami is inventing a new category of music by merging multiple sounds into a potpourri of creativity. Hip-hop, world, trance and punk all orbit the […]